Benzinga | Nov 23, 2020 01:47AM EST

GE Healthcare Acquires Swedish Start-up Prismatic Sensors To Bolster Its Medical Imaging Business

General Electric Company's (NYSE:GE) GE Healthcare unit acquired Sweden-based start-up Prismatic Sensors AB on Friday for undisclosed terms.

What Happened: Prismatic Sensors AB specializes in photon-counting detectors, which helps GE Heath's imaging business. GE claims that the technology has potential in oncology, cardiology, neurology, and many other clinical CT applications.

Prismatic Sensors offers sharper images with fewer radiation doses to patients and helps detect cancer, heart disorders, and other diseases.

"Clinically, it's a huge leap forward. This is the cutting edge," said GE Healthcare CEO Kieran Murphy in an interview with CNBC.

Why It Matters: Murphy told CNBC that that Prismatic's photon-counting technology could eventually be used to detect early-stage cancers. He also added that GE Health had a stake in the start-up since early 2017, and it expects to close the acquisition by January 2021.

GE Healthcare is already a leading player in hospital and lab equipment and is making strides in medical records, healthcare software, and gene therapy research. Murphy said that the company also saw high demand for its medical imaging technology to diagnose lung conditions from COVID-19.

GE completed the sale of the biopharma portion of the healthcare business to Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) for $21.4 billion in March.

Price Action: GE shares closed 0.72% lower at $9.66 on Thursday.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia